Military and law enforcement personnel worldwide employ a variety of grenade devices, both hand thrown and rifle launched. Payloads include lethal and non lethal explosive charges, chemical agents such as tear gas, smoke, and combinations of elements to create a blinding light and loud noise to disrupt the target (“flash-bang”). Other versions provide a pyrotechnic light source to illuminate an area or target for remote reconnaissance. In addition, in the training of military and law enforcement personnel, a need exists for detecting the accuracy and effectiveness of the trainee's ability to strike an intended target in daylight or darkness. This is important not only for personnel training, but also to determine the effectiveness of various equipment systems, and as a means of calibrating such systems. Training with explosive or pyrotechnic devices present health and safety hazards to the training personnel. While the use of reduced energy devices lessens these hazards, an inherent risk of injury remains as these products employ pyrotechnic reactions or other potentially dangerous stored energy means of activation.
Any grenade that incorporates pyrotechnics is inherently dangerous and presents the risk of unintended ignition of the target or nearby materials. This is problematic in law enforcement deployments where collateral damage is typically undesirable. In many situations the risk of ignition or secondary explosion exceeds the benefits of illuminating the target area, such as when chemicals, flammables, munitions, or other explosive materials may be in or near the target area. Alternative means of illumination, such as use of incandescent lighting can be effective. However, use of direct incandescent lighting is disadvantageous because it reveals the position of the light source and can only illuminate the objects or surfaces it contacts directly. Such directed lighting cannot bypass an opaque barrier, thereby leaving a shadowed area available for concealment.
To overcome the deficiencies of pyrotechnic systems, non-pyrotechnic systems, such as chemical light, has been utilized in both training and real life situations. Typical chemiluminescent light systems produce light by employing a two-component system to chemically generate light. Chemiluminescent light is produced by combining two components, a chemical solution referred to as the “oxalate” component and a chemical solution referred to as the “activator” component. The two components are kept physically separate by a sealed, frangible, glass vial containing one component which is housed within an outer flexible container containing the other component. Typically, this outer container is sealed to contain both the second component and the filled, frangible vial. Forces created by intimate contact with the internal vial, e.g. by flexing, cause the vial to rupture, thereby releasing the first component, allowing the first and second components to mix and produce light. Since the objective of this type of device is to produce usable light output, the outer vessel is usually composed of a clear or translucent material, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, which permits the light produced by the chemiluminescent system to be transmitted through the vessel walls.
Systems utilizing chemiluminescent light output may be designed so as to transmit a variety of colors by addition of a dye or fluorescent compound to one or both of the chemiluminescent reactant compositions or to the vessel. Furthermore, the device may be modified so as to only transmit light from particularly chosen portions thereof. A remotely deployable chemiluminescent system allows the user to easily change positions without affecting the lighting location. Moreover, deployment of chemiluminescent materials provides an illumination that can adhere to it adheres to a target an individual or vehicle so marked is easily and readily identified.
Although pyrotechnic devices have been used to provide colored smoke detections systems, the color and types of illumination is limited. In practice, the ability to use different colors of light and marking by law enforcement and military personnel to indicate differing meanings is vital to the development of an effective system. Moreover, in many situations it is highly desirable for military and law enforcement personnel to have the capability of marking a target non-visibly so that targeted individuals remain unaware of the illumination. To achieve such a goal, invisible radiation in the infrared and ultraviolet can be produced by chemiluminescent reactions.